Sustainability & Organizations Institute Sustainability & Organizations Institute
The Sustainability & Organizations Institute (S&O) is an interdisciplinary institute at HEC Paris whose members study and teach about the contemporary challenges faced by organizations and how these organizations influence society.
Its three pillars of research, teaching and action give rise to the motto of our Institute: Think, Teach, Act for an inclusive and sustainable world!
While business and capitalism have massively contributed to social and economic development, including a material reduction of poverty, it has become clear that the system is failing in several important ways:
- The planet is under stress due to the impact of business on the environment
- The level of inequality has reached unacceptable levels in many countries
- Business falls short in engaging, inspiring, and fulfilling the majority of employees
- The pace of change and the level of uncertainty in the world is leaving many people confused, ill-equipped, and disoriented, as many old rules and skills are seen as outdated or ineffective.
The Sustainability & Organizations Institute is an interdisciplinary Institute at HEC Paris that brings together over 60 professors and educators. Together, they carry out research, teach and implement ideas to organize and lead our responses to the daunting challenges of our time. These contemporary challenges include climatic constraints, social inequality, loss of purpose, technological disruption, epidemics, social contestation, ethical imperatives, and liberalization and regulation.
The Sustainability & Organizations Institute’s purpose is to reinvent business through promoting sustainability and unleashing human potential.
Its mission statement is to contribute to our understanding of these phenomena, support anyone with a role to play in these transformations, and prepare future generations of managers to lead in these complicated times. We seek to participate in a re-foundation of business and market organization, inside-out through research, education and action, and outside-in through the recognition of key stakeholders, including investors, civil society, and regulators.
S&O Mission Report 2023 - 2024
Leading with purpose for an inclusive and sustainable world
Annual Forum fostering multi-stakeholder dialogue
The Impact Company LAB
Co-founded by HEC Paris and Schneider Electric in September 2023, the Impact Company Lab is a leading experimentation platform focused on concretely growing companies’ ability to drive a just transition in a rapidly changing world.
Sponsored by
S&O News
As part of our partnership with De Gaulle Fleurance for the 5th edition of the 2024 Observatory of Societal Transitions , Marieke Huysentruyt, Academic Director of the Sustainability & Organizations...
No one is equipped to address the new world challenges being faced in Kinshasa (and other megacities). Neither the best CEOs in the world, nor the world’s best academics, nor the best scientists. We...
In the first episode of the Bold Thinkers podcast, we journey to Kinshasa, the bustling capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. With a population set to exceed 58 million by 2075, Kinshasa is one of...
How can we rethink our economic systems and the role of businesses within planetary boundaries? This is the question underlying François Gemenne’s fundamental course on global issues, which had its...
In collaboration with the Oxford University Centre for Corporate Reputation , the S&O Purpose Center is publishing The Central Role of Culture in Purpose-Based Business report, the fruit of the 2024...
A new chapter begins for the S&O Institute as it celebrates its 15th anniversary with a significant shift: the “S” in its name is evolving from Society to Sustainability (the “O” for Organizations remains...
As the climate crisis continues to transform the global economy, this partnership is set to provide HEC Paris MBA students with the necessary tools and knowledge to lead in a climate-conscious world. HEC...
On May 16 and 17, the Paris-Saclay ecosystem organized the 7th edition of Paris-Saclay SPRING, a flagship innovation event in Europe held on the HEC Paris campus. This year, the focus was on Cleantech...
On April 26, over 300 people joined together for HEC’s first immersive learning experience designed to explore how businesses’ ability can drive a just transition in a rapidly changing world. Organized by...
In response to the growing climate crisis and the urgent need for environmental protection, HEC Paris has published a special issue of its Knowledge@HEC review focusing on planetary boundaries. Entitled "...
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